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July 06, 2022 - 7:30 AM
More than 60 black bears were euthanized by the B.C. Conservation Officer Service in towns and cities across the Thompson-Okanagan region in 2021.
A list compiled by the Fur-Bears organization found 63 black bears were killed in the region with conservation officers killing 16 in Vernon alone.
The number of black bears killed in Vernon places the city in fifth place province-wide in the list of deadly communities for black bears. Prince George comes in first place with 36 deaths.
Conservation officers in Kelowna euthanized six black bears in 2021, while their colleagues in Kamloops killed double that number with 13 put down.
West Kelowna also had multiple issues with bears with conservation officers having to euthanize 13 bears throughout 2021. In the last five years, the city has had to kill 29 black bears.
In the last five years, conservation officers in Kelowna have killed 36 bears and 56 in Kamloops.
Penticton scored fairly well in comparison to its size with four black bears meeting a premature end in 2021.
The rural communities of Enderby and Falkland saw no black bears put down while the larger urban centre of Salmon Arm also had no issues that required bears to be euthanized.
The same can't be said for the small communities of Peachland and Summerland which each had three bears euthanized.
"Black bears are killed by the hundreds by government agents in British Columbia, frequently for being near humans or accessing human foods that were left accessible," Fur-Bearers director of advocacy Aaron Hofman said in a media release. "It is important that communities, where these bears are killed with extreme frequency, are identified and addressed so underlying, systemic causes for negative encounters can be ended."
Hofman said every community in B.C. should be concerned by the number of bears being killed by conservation officers.
"It points to something being out of balance in the ecosystem, or a significant need for education and the implementation and enforcement of bylaws at the local level, as well as provincial enforcement," he said.
Read the full list here.
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